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From Heaven With Love
could overcome Jesus. He hoped that under the force of despondency
and hunger, Christ would lose faith in His Father and work a miracle
in His own behalf. Had He done this, the plan of salvation would
have been broken.
Satan made the most of his supposed advantage. One of the most
powerful of the angels, he said, had been banished from heaven. The
appearance of Jesus indicated that He was that fallen angel, forsaken
by God and deserted by man. A divine being would sustain his claim
by working a miracle: “If Thou be the Son of God, command this
stone that it be made bread.” Such an act of creative power, urged the
tempter, would be conclusive evidence of divinity. It would bring
the controversy to an end.
But the Son of God was not to prove His divinity to Satan. Had
Christ complied with the suggestion of the enemy, Satan would still
have said, Show me a sign that I may believe you to be the Son
of God. And Christ was not to exercise divine power for His own
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benefit. He had come to bear trial as we must, leaving us an example.
His wonderful works were all for the good of others. Strengthened
with the memory of the voice from heaven, Jesus rested in His
Father’s love.
Jesus met Satan with Scripture. “It is written,” He said. The
weapon of His warfare was the Word of God. Satan demanded of
Christ a miracle. But that which is greater than all miracles, a firm
reliance on a “Thus saith the Lord,” was a sign that could not be
controverted. As Christ held to this position, the tempter could gain
no advantage.
In the time of greatest weakness Christ was assailed by the
fiercest temptations. Thus Satan has taken advantage of the weakness
of humanity. See
Numbers 20:1-13
;
1 Kings 19:1-14
. When one
is perplexed or afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan is at hand to
tempt, to attack our weak points of character, to shake our confidence
in God. Often the tempter comes as he came to Christ, arraying
before us our weakness. He hopes to discourage the soul and break
our hold on God. But if we would meet him as Jesus did, we would
escape many a defeat.
Christ said to the tempter, “Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” In the
wilderness more than fourteen hundred years before, God sent His